Ceasefire now, ceasefire forever
High time for Dems to grow a real spine, but we can't wait to act
Vol. 34
In This Issue: ESSAY | NOW READ THIS | TAKE ACTION | GAY STUFF | FINAL FRAME
I’ll keep this (relatively) short and to-the-point: Anything less than demanding, forcefully and often, a complete and total ceasefire in Gaza and global humanitarian effort to help the Palestianian people recover, is a gross moral failing on the part of the world and our leaders.
I am disgusted by the elected leaders meant to represent me–including people I’ve previously supported, who have often been the last line of defense on our fundamental human rights in the U.S.--who have either remained largely silent on the issue, or who’ve actually sided with the far-right government of Israel and its military as they wreak grotesque havoc on people who’ve done nothing wrong other than be born into the open-air prison of Israel’s own making.
We are heading into yet another presidential election with existential consequences, and the guy we’re meant to vote for if we want to actually preserve some semblance of democracy and basic human rights in this country has done little to stand up against an actual genocide. One being carried out by a government with whom the U.S. has the most leverage. We could stop funding and logistically supporting their military. We could threaten sanctions. We could push them to re-engage in some kind of equitable and humanitarian solution to the decades-long conflict.
Instead, Biden and too many other ostensibly progressive Democrats, either afraid of losing lucrative contracts and donors or of being labeled as anti-Semitic (despite so much of the opposition to Israel’s actions coming from Jewish people themselves), make vague public statements while continuing to push for more funding for the bombs and bullets that have so far claimed well over 11,000 lives in Gaza and the West Bank, an unfathomable number of them being actual children (and an under-count, as the Palestinian Health Ministry says it can no longer accurately count the dead, due to the destruction of the health system itself).
It is good that there is a possible ceasefire in the works now, but 4-5 days is not enough. Israel’s Prime Minister has stated clearly that they intend to return to the war immediately thereafter. Never mind the grossly lopsided affair that it is, never mind the Israeli hostages still held and at risk themselves from Israel’s attacks, never mind growing international condemnation of what is, by every definition, a genocide.
We sure as hell can’t let Trump or some other fascist Republican win next November, but Democratic leadership taking the side of genocide is making “the lesser of two evils” feel pretty fucking evil still.
I don’t know what to do with this reality, other than continue to express my rage and heartbreak, to raise money for direct aid, to shout in the streets, to call and email and fax my reps, to change how I vote–but all options seem bad, because the system is bad. None of this really feels like enough. I still feel complicit. My tax dollars are helping fund genocide. We should know better by now. We do know better, and yet, and yet….
When I was a child, my conservative aunt parroted the line to me about how it was “normal” to be liberal when you’re young, but that everyone became more conservative as they aged. I have experienced quite the opposite. I see so many of my peers moving in the same direction. We are tired, we are angry, we are broke, we are despairing. We see the lie of this whole, terrible, immoral system that we’ve inherited and are meant to just go along with until it all inevitably crumbles into the sea.
Honestly? Fuck that.
Lyz Lenz recently wrote in her own newsletter something that resonated deeply with me: “Rage can and should change us. It is not the end of something but the beginning. It’s the motivation to resist,” she writes. “But that’s so hard to see when you are still inside the home, still holding onto the life that creates the conditions of your frustration.”
Somehow, we have to find the strength and courage to let go of this crumbling home, these suffocating lives, and let our rage—and our love—guide us into a better world. We have to imagine it, too, before there’s any hope of getting there. Which means not giving into that despair, that nihilism, and instead choosing to fight. Not with guns and bombs, but with creativity, care, courage, and ferocious love.
What does that look like for me? For you? I have to constantly remind myself of all the good that still exists in this world, of the people who are working hard, every day, to build a better life for all of us. We all have different abilities and capacities. We all have something to give. I will do my very best to let this moment radicalize–not immobilize–me. I hope to see you there.
Supplementary Listening: “Yo, Is This Racist” brings on guest Lux Alptraum, an Israeli/American citizen, who does a pretty fantastic job of breaking down and demystifying the discourse and context of the debate and feeling within Israeli/Jewish circles right now.
Now Read This.
“The Lesson of 9/11 Is That Israel Cannot Win Its Gaza War” [Spencer Ackerman for The Nation]
The unambiguous lesson of the War on Terror is that a war that lasts for a decade is not a war its architects understand how to win. In Iraq and Afghanistan, US generals equated maintaining the war with winning it, and the only results were death, suffering, and failure. Israel’s recent wartime experiences with comparable endeavors are no more promising. Two decades of occupying southern Lebanon did not destroy the Palestine Liberation Organization. Nor did Israel’s return to war in Lebanon in 2006—another war launched after a terror group took Israelis hostage—meet its objective of destroying Hezbollah, which today threatens to open a second front on Israel’s northern frontier. All Israel accomplished was the killing of human beings in great numbers, and the creation of motivated, experienced enemies that often grew in strength. It requires willful disregarding of extremely recent history to believe that an invasion of Gaza will end any other way.
“We Can’t Give In To War Derangement Again” [Oliver Willis]
Biden can’t get a blank check, especially from the people most in alignment with him ideologically. Just because he is a Democratic president with far superior policy remedies than Trump and other Republicans shouldn’t mean he gets to do whatever in his response because he has our innate trust. Every action, every request, every proclamation needs scrutiny and justification.
“The sanitization of genocide” [Lauren Wolfe at Chills]
The attempts to destroy entire peoples are fraught with not only horrors, but opinions. Either way, if we are planning to label something a genocide, then let’s not talk about the non-actionable label of “ethnic cleansing.” Not right now, when the stakes are this high.
Matt Bernstein has some great threads on Instagram that address pinkwashing and the “try being queer in Palestine” B.S. that’s getting thrown around as an argument against supporting a ceasefire and just peace.
Sage Advice.
“Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
Take Action.
Regardless of how you feel about the upcoming holidays, there’s never a bad time to pitch in, in whatever way you can, to make sure your neighbors/community have enough to eat. Here are a few food drives you can/should support in southcentral Wisconsin. If you live elsewhere, I encourage you to look up what’s local to you:
The people of Gaza/Palestine need and deserve all of our help. Here are vetted, on-the-ground organizations to donate your money to for direly-needed relief:
Gay Stuff!
I was recently introduced to the existence of something that blew my mind in the best way and I want nothing more than to share! The LSE Review of Books recently digitized the nearly-complete collection of pioneering, radical feminist journal (actually an early example of a zine, really), Urania. The journal was self-published and distributed to a list of ~250 people between the years of 1916 and 1940. Its central premise was that “sex is an accident” and that “men and women don’t exist.” The editorial team championed same-sex marriages, androgyny, and transgender rights–well before our modern era of far-right extremists spreading the lie that somehow LGBTQ people and our demands are new/made up/a passing fad.
“Urania challenges the idea that trans and non-binary identities are something novel, and shows the longstanding interconnections and solidarities between feminism, trans rights and sapphic lives,” writes Jenny White in her reflection on the journal and its vital place in queer/trans history.
I encourage you to click the link and read more about it! I’ve been privileged to know a fair amount of queer/trans history, and of course most non-shitty people understand that queer/trans people have existed since the dawn of human history, but of course it’s always incredible and important to find yet more tangible evidence of the different ways that people have expressed themselves and engaged in these topics/identities throughout that history.
We have always been here, and we always will be. And the world is better for it.
Final Frame.
Made some new friends the other week at Nachusa Grasslands in Franklin Grove, Illinois. This is the herd that’s cared for by my colleagues and from whom several members have since been returned to the Menominee tribe in Wisconsin. I recommend visiting either place to see these wonderful animals for yourself!
‘Til Next Time.
Thanks for reading and for standing up for your friends and neighbors! Take care of each other out there.
Always feel free to hit me up with questions, comments, suggestions, and tips on great hiking spots or good books. And please feel free to forward this email to a friend and/or hit that subscribe button. xoxo